Good-bye Fluffy and Lady....

Two of our kittens, Fluffy and Lady went to a new home yesterday. Here you can see them at play a few hours before they left for their new life.

A Spanish man had called after seeing our "kitten" poster, saying that his 4-year old daughter kept asking him for a kitten and he liked the look of ours. We arranged to meet at the bar in Santa Agnes for him to choose a kitten. I took three with me, Fluffy, Lady and Splodge. We don't have a proper cat carrier so I ended up putting them in a cardboard box which of course they all scrambled out of. In the end, I just put them in the back of the van and drove with the windows wound shut, hoping they wouldn't be too distressed. I'd already transported Little Red in that van that day (she's just had her op to stop any further babies) and she managed to get out of the cardboard box, even though she was still wobbly from the anaesthetic. She climbed all over the van, came and sat on my lap, peed next to me and then hung out in the back of the van until I got home.

Anyway, I drove to the bar and waited for the man. The kittens played in the back of the van but after a while climbed back into the cardboard box and hid. When he turned up, I showed him the kittens and did my best to encourage him to take two kittens, not the one he was planning on. Having watched the kittens at play over the last few weeks, the thought of one kitten going off on its own to a new home just didn't seem right. I managed to make him see the sense of taking two kittens (they play together and won't get lonely and he has a big garden) and put forward Fluffy and Lady. They are both confident little characters and play well together so I thought they should go to a new home together. I'd be worried about Splodge going anywhere at the moment as she has a persistent eye infection and just seems to be more needy than the other kittens. 

We put Fluffy and Lady into the back of his car (in the cardboard box) and I said good-bye to them. I got very emotional at this point with their two little faces looking up at me. It was hard. And then we went our separate ways, me with Splodge back to the house, crying as I drove back again and Fluffy and Lady off to their new home where a 4-year old girl would be awaiting their arrival!

I felt quite emotional the rest of the evening. Now when I walk round to the back of the house where the kittens live (they were moved out into the garden last week after the rat incident), there are only three little rascals who scamper round on hearing my voice, not the previous five. There was something so wonderful about turning the corner and seeing five little kittens come pelting my way, squeaking to welcome me! I know Fluffy and Lady have gone to a good home but it was very hard saying good-bye to them! 

A cure for feeling homesick....

In one of my posts last week, I think I mentioned that I'd been feeling homesick, I was really missing my friends. At times I found myself thinking "what were you thinking leaving everyone behind?" In London I had a very strong network of people around me who knew me, had shared experiences with me and loved and cared about me. I'd left that to come and live on a beautiful island where I didn't really know anyone. There is something about that warmth from friendship that you bask in when it surrounds you. And I was noticing the lack of it. 

It's not as if I haven't met people here, I have. But apart from Bea, I wouldn't count anyone as a friend, more lovely acquaintances who could become friends. Here I'm another one of the hordes who turns up on the island, charmed by it's beauty and wanting to live here.....

Anyway, I went out last night to Pacha as Basement Jaxx were playing. I've known Felix and Simon for about ten years, being a regular fixture at their unforgettable parties in Brixton over the last decade. I was with Ruby and Rachel who also went to their London parties and although I don't know them that well, we have the immediate connection of mutual friends and shared parties. A little dose of my life from London coupled with an ace selection of tunes from the Jaxx meant I jumped around loads, recreating a little bit of Brixton in Pacha. Although this time I was wearing wedge heels and at their parties, I'd always be in trainers for maximum dancing potential. A few hours out seeing friends from home knocked out the homesickness and I woke this morning feeling very chipper, although I'd only had about four hours sleep. It also felt really good to dance again! It's been over five months since I was last spotted on a dance floor and I have missed having a good old groove!  

Well done Simone!

My lovely friend Simone has just landed a fantastic job in Abu Dhabi so well done chica! 

It all happened very quickly - she went to see her parents in Dubai in March, decided she'd like to live in the UAE, applied for a job and the next thing she knows, she's being flown out for a one-day selection process and gets the job.

I was absolutely ecstatic when I heard the news yesterday and we had a long chat this morning. I spoke to her before she left for the interview and told her to get in there and shine! And she obviously did - it was a tough selection process with a very high calibre of candidates but she did it! I'm immensely proud of my friend who has always been a constant source of love and support to me.

Once again, well done Simone - I told you you could do it! 

The mystery of the mice and lizards....

The kittens are now over seven weeks old, all eating well, all house-trained (by me) and we're looking for homes for three of them. I'm going to keep two for myself and fingers crossed we find some nice homes for the others - we haven't had any interest yet - this is high-season for kittens on the island unfortunately....

Over the last few weeks, I noticed a growing collection of dead mice and lizards in their room. I think the tally so far was five mice and six lizards. I was baffled as to how our little kittens were catching all these, particularly as I didn't think we had mice in the house. I thought they were just leaving little gifts for me as a thank-you for looking after them.

When I went to feed the kittens this morning, Uncle Baggy was nowhere to be seen. This in itself is unusual as he's often right there at feeding times, seeing what he can steal from the kittens or Little Red. And then I saw him coming in from the fields, dead mouse in his mouth. He brought this in and deposited it in the kittens' room. Mystery solved - the kittens haven't been catching things, it's been Baggy who catches them and brings them for the kittens. There was something quite endearing in the realisation that he's been busy catching things for the babies. Maybe that's why he feels justified in eating with them (or trying to). I found it all very sweet, he looks after them as if they were his own and at times you'll find all five nestled into him as he cleans them in a very thorough fashion. He gets excited that he's got five playmates but doesn't realise that they're much smaller than him. If the playing gets a bit rough, you'll hear a sharp squeak from the kitten who's being tumbled around. I worried at first that he might hurt them but after seeing the way he looks after them and hunts for them, I don't think I need to worry about him at all!

I don't know who caught the rat today though. It was huge and I can't bear mice so seeing a big dead rat lying in the kittens room made me feel quite awful! But I wanted to get it out into the garden so I covered it with some kitchen towel and tried to move it out with the broom. In the middle of this drama, just as I'd got the rat outside, Little Red came along, grabbed the rat, ran off with it and then brought it back into the room! I had to start all over again.....

Working and writing in Ibiza

I realised that in my last post I mentioned that I had some work and was going to be writing but didn't go into any details so here they are.

I have some work, well at least a month's worth to start with. And that's a start! I'm currently busy doing research into boutique and luxury hotels in Bali. I have to find out who the main agents booking luxury boutique hotels in ten countries are (both online and those with a physical presence) and I also have to put together a list of all the travel press in the ten countries. Now you're thinking "you've moved to Ibiza and you work in interiors (apart from when you have an international relations project to do) - how have you ended up doing research on luxury boutique hotels in Bali?" Well, my past has come back to haunt me as it seems to do.

I had a meeting a couple of months ago with one of the main independent estate agents on the island to talk about work. He told me to go and talk to his friend A who has an interiors shop on the island, has lots of work and may be able to pass work my way. I thought the shop was for bathrooms as the shop flyer in my hand showed bathrooms. A was away for a couple of weeks and was going to come back while I was meditating in Barcelona. I planned to get in touch as soon as I was back from Barcelona but met him by accident and had an impromptu meeting/introduction on the pavement. 

I went to see him at the shop a little while later to discuss how we might be able to work together. The shop is absolutely gorgeous - I've been to a lot of the interiors shops on the island and this one has to be my favourite, along with Sluiz. A travels frequently to Morocco and Indonesia and scours both places for the most beautiful things he can find. As a former fashion designer (based in New Delhi for 11 years), he has impeccable taste and this reflects in the collections in his shop. We ran through my CV verbally and when I mentioned that my first degree was in International Hospitality Management, he asked if I could help with the boutique hotel he's opening later in the year in Bali. Of course I said yes! And that's how I find myself doing the research.

There's been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing getting started but I have at least a month's worth of work and that's great! Of course it would be brilliant to know that there's more work after that month but I just have to be patient and deliver on what's been asked of me in the first instance. I know that a part of me wishes to have something a bit more concrete and definite - it's as if you seek some sort of security when you've put your life through such a great upheaval moving it from one country to another. The uncertainty does make me feel uncomfortable but it's better to sit out the discomfort and see it through to the other side than to run and find something that is more comfortable (which would probably mean working in a bar or restaurant!). I know I'd love to work with A (and there are very few people who I would want to work with) so fingers crossed this leads to something good!

I've also got some writing work on the island although this is unpaid. I'm just happy to be finally writing about interiors, after wanting to do it for three years! I'm going to be writing a monthly interiors article for "Ibiza Now", the main foreign-language magazine on the island. The magazine is published in English and German and I'm going to be writing for the English version. Depending on how that goes, the articles may be translated and put into the German edition of the magazine. I had a meeting with the Editor-in-Chief earlier this week to discuss the articles and plan them out for the next few months. It was a great meeting, we ended up talking for a couple of hours and mapped out article ideas that go as far as March of next year. 

So, two bits of good news in one week and both steps in the right direction. But I'm not feeling as ecstatic as perhaps I should be. It's not that I'm feeling homesick but I am really missing having close friends around. My meditation practice has waned as well but it's a catch-22 situation - when I most need to meditate, that's when I'm least likely to do it! So, the aim for this coming week is to get back into a daily meditation practice and continue onwards and upwards!  

It makes my blood boil when....

.... someone tells me that because I'm a foreigner life will be much easier for me in Ibiza!

This has just happened and I've had a very heated exchange with the person in question. I'm sat in the local internet cafe and some Spanish guy who I've spoken to before came in. He asked how things were going and I said "They're going well, I start work on Tuesday and I'm going to be writing a monthly interiors column for a magazine on the island". I then got the "oh life is much easier for you here because you're a foreigner!" 

Err no, both things have come about because I've made them happen! And I could have moved my life from London to anywhere in the world, things would have fallen into place, they always do. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect my life to magically fall into place but good things do seem to happen and I am eternally grateful for them. When it comes to work, I'm fiercely professional and demand incredibly high standards of myself. At times it's been a pain having such high expectations, sometimes I've thought that life would be so much easier if I could just settle for a slightly more normal kind of life. But I've always pushed myself with work because I wanted to see what my potential was, what I was capable of achieving. In my international relations career in London, I had a reputation for delivering projects at the highest level, even if I'd never done that sort of project before. Someone once suggested that perhaps I shouldn't always deliver and I looked at him as if he was completely mad!  

So it makes me quite furious when someone suggests that things have worked out because I'm a foreigner or I've had things handed to me on a plate (as someone once said and I promptly bit his head off!). For every single foreigner who "makes" it here, I'm sure there are five more who don't or who just scrape by, eeking out a living but preferring to live here than in their home country as the island is just so beautiful. 

I could go on and on about this topic but it will turn into a rant and I don't want to start ranting. However I will say this - yes, I've had some amazing opportunities in my life when it comes to work but if I hadn't been able to deliver on what was asked of me in the first instance, some of the better things that came along just wouldn't have materialised. I'm convinced that it's your attitude in life that helps you succeed - in the grand scheme of things, perhaps I shouldn't have achieved what I have considering I failed my A levels miserably the first time round and scraped through with a couple of passes the second time. But that taste of self-inflicted failure (I wasn't exactly studying hard at the time) was enough to show me that it wasn't a good feeling! I realised that it was up to me and me alone to make something of my life (or not) and I've just got on with things! Rant over!

The Magic of Facebook

Most of my family and friends are on Facebook. I use that more to keep in touch with people than email. I know some people can't bear the site but for me it works well. When family members first started contacting me on Facebook, I felt a bit nervous as it was as if my two worlds - family and friends - was about to collide. But seeing that some family members are like friends and some friends are like family, I've let them all sit happily side by side on Facebook.

This week Facebook has been particularly magical for me! I've found my first ever friend on Facebook - after about 27 years of no contact. Aylin and I lost contact when she moved to America, I think we were about 12 at the time. We'd gone to different schools at 11 so had been seeing less of each other anyway but for three years at Dulwich Hamlet Junior School we were best friends and if you saw one, you'd usually see the other. We met when we found ourselves sitting next to each other in Mr Phelps' class in the second year. I think we became instant friends. For me it was particularly important as I'd gone through nursery, infant school and a year of junior school without making any friends and I was starting to worry about why this was. Growing up with two sisters, I'd always had playmates and the need had never arisen to make friends. But once at school, I didn't seem to make friends - I had classmates who I could invite to birthday parties but I never felt like I had a best friend. Being a child prone to worrying about her world, this concerned me. Therefore I was obviously overjoyed when I found myself with a best friend!

I remember playing together a lot and sometimes getting into trouble together. There is one incident I vaguely remember when we both got sent out of Mr Phelps' class for giggling. It had been snowing outside and we had to wait out in it. One or both of us suddenly felt the urge to pee and had nowhere to go so we peed in the snow and watched it turn yellow. I think we both fell about laughing even more.

At the age of 11, we went off to different schools. Aylin went to James Allen Girls School and I got sent to Waverley. It was a traumatic time for me, not only being sent to a school away from my best friend but also to a school that I didn't want to go to, the local comprehensive where if you managed to leave at 16 without having 3 kids with as many dads, you were doing well! As for going to university, that was a dream that most Waverley girls didn't even consider - well you don't if your life consists of pushing a pram around on a south London estate. We kept in touch a bit once we changed schools but when she moved to America with her family, we lost touch.

Over the years, I've wondered how Aylin is, what she's up to. Every time I drove past her old house, I'd look at it and think of all the times I'd spent there. I always thought it would be lovely to find her again and catch up on all that she's been up to but I didn't know where she was or how to contact her. I've recently been in touch with another school friend from that time and it was so good catching up on our very different lives that I thought I'd look for Aylin again. A quick search on Google and a Facebook profile with the same name popped up. I sent her a message to find out if it was my best friend from childhood, fingers crossed hoping that it was. And today, when I logged on there she was going "OH MY GOD!" in her message! Which is exactly what I thought when I saw the message from her. I am absolutely overjoyed to have found my childhood friend - we've now got 27 years of catching up to do! I can't wait!